The Legend of Shade
by NorthEasternSpirit
Summary: I am Shade, the protector of these Warrior's lands from outside evildoers. I am more then just an average tom. I am the fastest tom, and you cannot kill me. I am already dead. I am the one from Starclan who defends the cats of this land to the best of my ability. I am supernatural. I am Shade, the defender of clans. Little apprentices, if you aren't afraid of the dark, you will be.
1. Chapter 1

The Legend of Shade

Ten rogue toms stood at the top of a hill, overlooking the Forestclan cats. It was well into the night, and a fog was rolling in over the camp in the hollow below

"Man boys! Think of all the she cats we will get when we kill them all off! And all the food! Oh, this is too easy! They probably won't kill us because of their stupid warrior code! Oh, they beat us before, but now we greatly outnumber them! There is no way we can lose now boys!"

"So what, Marv? Do we attack now?"

Marv, who was a large, orange tom with many battle scars, including one that spanned unattractively across his right eye, replied, "No. We wait till the fog goes. Then we strike! I want to see the fear in their eyes when we slaughter them."

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The toms fell asleep after talking and dreams of she-cats when Soldier, who was guarding the "camp" noticed some ferns moving just outside the entrance. Soldier, who was a small white tom with unusually long claws, unsheathed them.

"Who's there?" he asked nervously. "I'm going to attack you if you don't leave me alone."

Immediately, the shaking ceased, and Soldier backed off, and said, "Pussy." However, fearing that whatever it had been was still around, he kept a watchful eye open.

A little later, Soldier was looking at the ground when he noticed his shadow moving. "But I'm not moving," he said.

A heartbeat later, he collapsed to the ground, under the weight of another cat, with fur black as night. Soldier heaved upwards and threw the cat off. They locked eyes for a second. Soldier noted that his eyes were piercing blue, so shocking that he doubted he would forget the look. The cat's claws glinted like ice against the moonlight, and the cat charged. The speed of which the cat attacked surprised Soldier from the look on his face, and his face would stay that way, as blood poured from the tom's throat. All Soldier could think was, "How… Is he… so… fast….unghh…"

The tom looked up, blood glimmering on his paws. The other toms had surrounded him, probably from the noise Soldier made while fighting for his life.

"You killed Soldier!" Marv said in disbelief. "He was one of my brothers! You'll pay for that! Attaaaaack!"

The black cat's eyes glinted, and his face was expressionless other than those eyes. He took one huge leap into the sky, and seemed to touch the moon. The rogues looked up awestruck as the cat leaped over them all, seemingly with no effort. They charged after the cat, but he was ready. With a spinning slash on his rear legs, he gashed two of the tom's bellies, who immediately squealed in pain like kittens, and jumped back. He silenced one of them with a graceful bound forward followed by and upward slash that raked the tom's throat and glazed over his eyes. He quickly clawed one of the fleeing tom's tails and with one quick cut, that tom's tail was no longer there. The tom's howls of pain were silenced with a bite to the throat, and the other toms let out panicked yowls as he mauled them one by one as they ran through the forest.

Finally, only Marv was left, and he had one broken leg. Unable to run, he looked fearfully into the eyes of the black tom. "Who are you?" he asked.

The tom's voice was quiet, like the breeze flowing through trees or a stream over rocks. "I am Shade, the protector of the clans. I was once a clan cat of Forestclan. My name was Shadestar, the fastest cat in the clans. I am the one who protects the lands of the clans from evildoers like you. And for that, you must pay. I'm sorry I have to do this." Marv's howls of agony spread through the forest like wildfire, then all was quiet.


	2. Chapter 2

The Legend of Shade

Shadestar was, and still might be, one of the most well known and feared cats in warriors lore. The first leader of Desertclan, he was capable of doing supernatural movements, such as jumping twice as high as any cat in the clans, running faster than any other cat, and having claws longer than any other cat. Combined with his piercing eyes and jet black fur, he was a nightmare in battle. Luckily, for the other clans he had high morale, and respected life within clans more than anything else. He never killed another clan cat, just seriously injured them. Some other clan cats said it was to bring fear to the other clan's hearts when they saw their injured, but it was mostly out of care.

But a tragedy struck his mother when Shadestar was still a 'paw. She and her brother had been hunting along the outer edges of an oasis when they were brutally attacked by rogue cats. His uncle came back carrying his mother's body. When he heard about this, he stayed quiet, and held onto the anger within him. Not speaking for a whole two moons, he went out into the forest and trained himself to gain those supernatural abilities. Some say he watched hawks to learn their stealthiness, otters to learn their gracefulness, and deer to learn their speed.

This together made him the most feared fighter in the clans…. But you don't know the true story of the most dangerous cat ever…


	3. Chapter 3

**Finally, the actual legend of Shade begins!**

Ch.3

Shadekit always knew there was something wrong with him. Or not wrong, but different.

The other kits were always avoiding him. He was the oldest one in the nursery, but they always seemed to leave him out.

"Look at those eyes! They seem to stare right through you! And look at those claws! They could rip could your eyes just by thinking about them!"

It wasn't his fault. His father, Blackheart, looked very similar to him, without the eyes, and his mother, Swanbreeze, had the ice-cold eyes he had as well. Both of them were jet-black, just like their son, and many cats feared him for this. One kit was not afraid of him, and that was Firekit. He was outgoing, friendly, and pretty much the opposite of Shadekit. But he seems to accept Shadekit for who he was, and the two of them always played together. Eventually, the other cats accepted him, but he was still the outcast of the nursery.

One day, Shadekit had gone to get a rabbit from the fresh-kill pile, and had tried to get a rabbit at the top. Unfortunately, he fell over into the rabbit, and jumped out immediately. He grabbed the rabbit, and brought it to his mother. The other kits gasped. Covered in blood, the young tom looked like a cat out of a story. They all ran away from him. Unable to take their teasing, he ran away toward the border of Desertclan. The camp is very near to the Forestclan border, and he ran over to their border without thinking. He jumped into a hollow and started crying.

It must have been an eternity before he heard a voice. "Wh, who, who are you?" The voice sounded very young, like another kit. He peeked out the hollow to see two young she-cats staring up at him. "I'm Flowerkit, and this is my sister Bluekit."

"Go away! Nobody wants me! I'm too scary looking!"

"Actually, I think you're quite handsome for a tom," said Flowerkit. "What's your name?"

"Wait, you're not scared of me?"

"Of course not! We've been looking for a friend to play with since Redkit and Fishkit became 'paws."

"I'm going to be a paw in a moon if I don't scare away everyone…"

"We'll be in two moons!" piped up Bluekit.

"So what do you say? Want to be friends?" asked Flowerkit.

"You really mean it?" _Why would these two normal she-cats want to be friend with a strange cat like me?_

"Of course! We can hunt together, and meet up over here every day, even when we're apprentices! But you still never told me your name…"

"I'm Shadekit!"

"Nice to meet you, Shadekit! So friends?"

He nodded. "Best friends!"

**Hopefully, this makes up for the delay of North**

**REVIEW**

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	4. Chapter 4

Ch.4

Shadepaw slowly walked toward the meeting place of the three young cats.

"Better we meet at night only. Viperstar is getting suspicious." said Bluepaw one day.

Having received their apprentice names about one moon ago, the three young apprentices would play all day, and Shadepaw was happy. Nobody talking about his looks, nobody talking about how he was a bad omen. Flowerpaw and Bluepaw seemed content with the way he was, and respected his battle prowess.

Panting, Bluepaw huffed out after they had wrestled, "I don't get how you're so fast! You seem to just appear!"

Shadepaw smiled at the blue she-cat. "I don't know… it doesn't feel like I'm moving that fast… but Rushfur says I'm just as fast as him."

That was true. Rushfur was the fastest cat in Desertclan, and his mentor. "You might actually be faster than me…" his mentor said proudly after they had raced two days ago.

He blinked back into the present, and the two she-cats were looking at him curiously. "Never mind! It's getting a little dark, so I think we should start heading back. Our clan might be curious. See you two tomorrow night at the gathering!"

The two of them waved their tails toward him as they walked off into the night.

Shadepaw was about to start heading back to the camp when he felt some mist. Looking up at the sky above, some rain fell into his eyes. Blinking them, he looked around. There was a large bush about ten tail-lengths away. Sensing that the rain was going to continue falling, likely harder than it was now, he proceeded to dash toward the only shelter nearby. After all, as nice as it would have been to stay under the trees, that was in Forestclan territory.

He settled under it, and looked up nervously to the sky, which was now pouring rain extremely hard. Then he heard it! The mew of a scared cat! He looked around quickly, and realized that there was a den underneath the bush, a small den. He thought about what to do. _If there is a hurt cat down there, then I have to help! But I would risk being captured by something else…_ he thought, thinking about the consequences. He took a deep breath, and realized that he would have to enter the hole.

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Looking down, he saw a tiny little white she-cat inside of the den, who looked no older than five moons old. He looked around cautiously, to make sure it wasn't a trap.

"What's your name?" he asked cautiously.

"My… my name?" squeaked the kit. "My name is… Sky!"

"Sky? Ok… where's your mother?"

She sniffed sadly. "She left me here alone… she said she would come back for me, but its been so long. I haven't eaten in days…"

Shadepaw felt sympathy for the young white kit. He peered outside the den, into the pounding rain. With a sigh, he dashed out into the rain, and caught two mice in record time. When he arrived, the kit yelped in happiness and ran to his side, and the two of them started eating. After they finished, Shadepaw looked outside, and saw that the rain had stopped.

"Well… I'd better be going…" said Shadepaw. "May Starclan light your path…"

She looked at him with those round sad eyes. "Please don't leave me! I have nobody to go to!"

Shadepaw looked around nervously. _She's only a kit…_ he thought. With a sigh, which he realized he had been doing a lot recently, he curled up around the young she-cat. His mind was racing. Tomorrow, he would leave her. _But where,_ he thought as he fell asleep.

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"Ughh…" Shadepaw woke up slowly, and felt the dew in the air around him. Sky, the young she-cat, was shaking him.

"Wake up… wait, what's your name?"

"Oh… I'm Shadepaw."

"Ok. But can we get something to eat?"

"The sun hasn't even started rising though… oh, all right."

Shaking himself of his grogginess, he padded outside the small den. He started thinking about the young she-cat's name. _Sky… wasn't one of the legendary cats named Skyflower? Could there be any relation?_ He looked at the kit curiously. _Hmm…_

She jumped up at a butterfly that had been happening to be flying outside the den, and landed with a thump. She looked at him with embarrassment, and Shadepaw smiled, which was rare for the tom. _There is something about her… I just can't place it!_ He felt nervous, which was also unusual for him. That look… it made his heart thump nervously.

"Err… I was wondering if I should take you back to camp with me. I can't just leave you here, Sky… that is, if you want me to…"

She blinked, as if shaking away a bad memory, and said, "Sure. My mother told me all about the different clans, and Starclan even! She told me about…" Her voice trailed off slowly, and she blinked tears out of her eyes. She pressed her face into Shadepaw's pelt, and the tom didn't know how to respond.

She looked at him slowly. "I will come to your clan!"

**As always, please review! You guys keep me going^^ Thanks! Northeasty**


	5. Chapter 5

**Just to clear up some confusion, Skyflower and all the others from North are in the past already. You're probably thinking they succeeded, but… just keep reading. Anyways, this is not the same she-cat, reincarnated or not. Her name is both a reference to the other she-cat in my other story, and coincidentally, a request asked by Kestrelmoon. Anyways, here is ch. 5^^**

Ch.5

"So Shadepaw, who's going to look after me in the camp? My mother…" her voice trailed off sadly.

"It's okay… you look nearly old enough to be an apprentice, like me. When we get there, I'll show you around the camp. You can meet Firepaw, and we'll all hang out together."

She smiled at him happily, and replied, "I'd like that a lot."

Soon, they arrived at the camp entrance. Swanbreeze ran over to him, and asked him sternly, "Where have you been? We've been wondering where you were all night!"

Moonstorm mumbled, "Sorry," while Sky watched with amusement.

"My, who is that young she-cat you've brought back with you? I've never seen her before!"

"Oh, this is Sky. I found her abandoned in a small den alone. She said her mother left her, and I was wondering if she could stay with us."

Swanbreeze looked thoughtful. "I see… let's talk to Eaglestar."

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Eaglestar, who was the clan leader, was pacing back and forth inside of his den while Swanbreeze tried convincing him to let the pretty she-cat into the clan.

"Alright, I suppose I could let her into the clan, as an apprentice. Still... Shadepaw?"

"Yeah?"

"You are going to be responsible for helping her get accustomed to the clan. She trusts you, and it's your responsibility. Swanbreeze, you will mentor her."

Swanbreeze smiled. "Of course."

"Then the naming ceremony will be tonight."

The two cats padded out of their leader's den. Sky was waiting outside. "So… what happened?"

Shadepaw replied quickly. "He said you can stay in the clan, as long as my mother mentors you, and I keep an eye on you."

"Oh, thank you so much!" She flung her body into Shadepaw's as what was meant to be a hug, but ended up with both of them falling over.

"Urghh…" said Shadepaw as he was slightly crushed. She got off of him quickly.

"Sorry!"

"No, it's alright. Let me show you Firepaw!"

"Already here." Firepaw walked out of the apprentice's den that was nearby, and shook some moss off his pelt. "How's it going Shadepaw? Oh, who's that?"

"This, is Sky, soon to be Skypaw."

Firepaw seemed to be examining her, looking up and down thoughtfully. "Well, nice to meet you Sky." He brushed his tail over her back in greeting, then turned to Shadepaw. "I'm off of elder's duty right now. We can hang out if you like."

"Sure, after I show Sky around camp."

He nodded, then headed back into the apprentice's den.

"Well… that's Firepaw for you! Always rushing around."

She nodded, looking thoughtful, then turned back to him. "What's in that den?"

"Oh, that's the nursery. You know, where all the mothers and kits stay."

"Ah… I see. The clan seems like a very nice place to be a mother in." A slight frown of sadness crossed her face, the she blinked it away.

"Want to go training later on tonight?" asked Shadepaw.

She looked surprised. "Alone?"

"Yeah, well, together. I want to show you something cool after. Plus it really sharpens your senses."

"I thought that going out at night isn't allowed." she asked suspiciously.

"Well, I know a secret way out. But it'll be real cool to see what I'll show you. It's helped me get stealthier, faster, and more skilled at combat." He cast her a sly grin.

"Well, I suppose…" she said uncertainly.

Shadepaw understood. What kind of apprentices wandered out of camp at night, alone? But this was one secret he felt someone else should know about. The secret of his skill.


End file.
